“That will certainly whet the appetite of a lot of the players. They will want to go and show what they can do in front of that many people.

“They have got very good players and we have all seen them from afar.

“In Dwight Gayle they have a player who can score goals at Premier League level. They have signed Matt Ritchie and they also have Mo Diame, Yoan Gouffran, Jamaal Lascelles, and Ciaran Clark. It is a team that is littered with players who have graced the Premier League like Jonjo Shelvey.

“We know the task that we are coming up against and we respect it, but we are not in awe of it and we don’t fear it. Everyone will expect Newcastle to win except for those in our dressing room. The Newcastle supporters will expect them to win but when the odds are against us that is when we are usually very good.

“We are a team that is organised, we are a team that has pace in there, and we are a team that has quality in there. We have to go and take that to St James Park.

“They need to stand up again and they know that. I have no worries and no fears that they will do that because the mentality of the group is good.”

About the author

Jackie Smithfield

Staff Writer - Doing my best to deliver news and views on Newcastle United, never quite recovered from the trauma of the ‘so close’ 1995/96 season.